The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), within the Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Food Love 125 Inc., d/b/a Ichiba Ramen, a New York City restaurant, to resolve an investigation into whether the restaurant violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision.

The investigation was initiated by a worker, who filed a complaint with IER, alleging Ichiba Ramen’s former chef discriminated against a job applicant when it refused to hire him as a server because he was not Korean or Japanese. The investigation also revealed that prior chefs had not placed such limitations on the restaurant’s hiring of servers. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers with four to 14 employees from discriminating against individuals because of their national origin.

Under the settlement agreement, Ichiba Ramen will pay a civil penalty of $2000, undergo training on the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, and post notices informing workers about their rights under the INA. The restaurant previously paid $1,760 in back pay to the affected applicant.

This national origin settlement with the IER is fairly rare as the IER only has jurisdiction on national origin claims involving employers with four to 14 employees. Most national origin claims are filed with the EEOC, who has jurisdiction on national origin claims involving employers with 15 or more employees.

For answers to many other questions related to the IER, national origin discrimination, and immigration compliance, I invite you to read The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, a book that I co-authored with Greg Siskind, and is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0997083379.

Effective January 20, 2018, the civil penalties for a variety of immigration-related violations increased dues to an adjustment for inflation. Below is a chart setting forth the old and new amounts:

Type of Violation

Old Amounts

New Amounts

I-9 substantive violation

$220 - $2191

$224 - $2236

Knowingly employing undocumented worker

$548 - $4384

$559 - $4473

Unfair Documentary Practice

$181 - $1811

$185 - $1848

Immigration-Related Discrimination

$452 - $3621

$461 - $3695

These increases are another reason to conduct an internal audit of your I-9 forms. Through such, an employer can remedy or mitigate many violations before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the Immigrations and Employees Rights Section (IER) discovers them. To learn more about employer immigration compliance and steps you can take to prevent I-9 violations and hiring undocumented workers, I invite you to read The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, a book that I co-authored with Greg Siskind, which is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0997083379.

The Justice Department, through Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the OSC, has reached a settlement with Omnicare Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CVS Health Corporation, resolving the IER’s investigation into whether the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision.

The investigation, which was initiated in response to a worker’s complaint, revealed Omnicare engaged in citizenship status discrimination against a work-authorized job applicant by refusing to refer him to the hiring manager for an interview because he was not a permanent resident or U.S. citizen, and removing him from the candidate pool based on his status as an asylee. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating against asylees because of their citizenship or immigration status, unless authorized by law to do so.

Under the settlement agreement, Omnicare will pay $3,621, the maximum civil penalty for a single instance of citizenship status discrimination; post notices informing workers about their rights under the INA’s anti-discrimination provision; have its staff and its contractors undergo department-provided training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA; evaluate all employment applicants in a non-discriminatory manner; and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements for two years.

This settlement demonstrates the need for employers, big and small, to be aware of the law as it relates to citizenship status for asylees and other applicants. To learn more about employer immigration compliance, I invite you to read The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, a book that I co-authored with Greg Siskind, which is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0997083379

Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department announced J.E.T. Holding Co. Inc. (JET) has paid $40,000 to nine U.S. citizens pursuant to a January 17, 2017 settlement with IER, which resolved claims that JET discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of temporary foreign visa workers.

In its investigation leading up to the settlement, the IER found JET, which operates a restaurant in Saipan, routinely refused to hire qualified U.S. citizens and other work-authorized individuals for dishwasher positions because of their citizenship status; rather, it preferred to fill the positions with temporary foreign visa workers. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, employers cannot prefer to hire temporary foreign visa workers over available and qualified U.S. workers based on citizenship status. For more information on the settlement, see my prior blog entry at http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9680-...-J-E-T-Holding.

This settlement and back pay is another example of the IER and other immigration-related agencies striving to comply with President Trump’s Hire American Executive Order. For more information on Hire American EO, see http://hrprofessionalsmagazine.com/w...ecutive-order/, an article that I co-authored with Adam Cohen (@MDVisas).

For more information on employer immigration compliance issues, I invite you to read my new book, The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, which is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0997083379.

Columbine Management Services Inc. has agreed to pay $335,000 to settle allegations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that it fired care providers because they were from Ethiopia or Sudan.

Columbine Management also agreed to change the employees’ terminations to resignations, provide them with neutral references, and administer Title VII training (related to non-discrimination based on national origin and other protected classes) to supervisory and managerial employees for a two-year decree.

The suit, which the EEOC initiated in July 2015, alleged a director for Columbine’s New Mercer Commons facility told a staff member that the facility should get rid of “these people because they just can’t speak English.” This statement was about employees from Ethiopia or Sudan.

This case was handled by the EEOC because Columbine Management had 15 or more employees. If an employer has between 4 and 14 employees, the Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) Section of the Department of Justice has jurisdiction over the national origin discrimination claim.

This settlement is another example of how employers need to provide training to their supervisory and managerial staff on avoidance of national origin discrimination as well as other types of discrimination. For more information on avoiding national origin discrimination and unfair documentary practices related to employer immigration compliance, I invite you to read my new book, The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, which is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0997083379.